BODICE SHAPING!
How do you make dress shop take a series of numbers and make a pattern
This will explore shaping the arm hole, the bust line and the shoulders.
Let�s review some facts:
1. The bodice is drafted from the SHOULDERS DOWN.
2. No measurement acts independently of itself. Numbers are added and subtracted and computed to program points.. then its kind of like connecting the dots. The Bezier curve is used to make a curve and then it is "smoothed"
3. Getting a critical point wrong means that whole large portions of the bodice will be wrong!
We are going to start with the sleeve cap, then the arm hole across chest and shoulder angle.
The first graphics shows the sleeve cap and side seam in balance. The side seam really effects the BACK of the arm hole opening shape.. the arm hole depth effects the front of the arm hole shaping in regarding the lengths!
print your basic bodice pieces in 25%.. or 50 % ( use the other button and type in 50 two times) for a larger view.
Place the bodice back upside down with neck edge facing YOU.. place the front piece so the neck edge faces the back.. you will then see half the neck line and the full arm hole opening.
now move the back down so the side seams face each other...and take a good look at the arm hole.. when you tape the side seams together (after folding out the front side dart) and the shoulder seams you can look from the side and see the arm hole. Study it a moment.
If its nice and round its good.. if its a triangle or a box.. nope...
The numbers used to compute the sleeve cap are for a very snug fit! Not where you want the arm hole to ride on the bottom.. but up against the skin. The program will take care to add ease. It does this by taking some from the side seam and adding it to the arm hole when drafting. The actual percentage that is added to the arm hole depth for the basic bodice is 20% and that is the FRONT arm hole depth measurement.
FIRST make absolutely sure your shoulder point is accurate!
To find your real shoulder point.. do the brownie salute .with the opposite hand two fingers (index and middle) extended and place the pad of your finger tips ON the shoulder ridge (ON TOP!!!) with the middle finger on the outside of the shoulder at the very top of the arm. The shoulder point should be UNDER the index finger.. extend your arm straight forward and straight back.. you should feel the motion of the joint under your index finger. YOU must FIND this point!
There are many ways to measure your sleeve cap height.. I find the simplest way is to tie a thin piece of lingerie elastic around the bicep so it TOUCHES at the back of the arm.. the connecting point at the underarm and the torso. Make sure this elastic is LEVEL!
NOW measure OVER the shoulder point to the elastic on the outside edge of the arm.
MOST adult women have sleeve caps of 4 to 6 inches! Under 4 and over 6 question!!!
If you have a fairly normal shaped arm and bicep.. not very very thin or very very fluffy you can check your cap measurement with this formula...
Measure around the bicep right under the arm pit.. add 3.3 then divide the total by 3.14
example for a 12 inch bicep
12 +3.30 = 15.30 divide 15.30 by 3.14 that equals 4.8726 or 4 7/8 if you are between 1/8ths round UP to the nearest 1/8th. In this case use 4 7/8 or 5.
In over 87% of the charts this was tried on its accurate to 1 100th of an inch!
IT doesn�t work with BIG FLUFFY biceps!
It doesn�t work with very very skinny biceps or on children.
Its for cross checking not establishing what the arm hole depth is.
The reason being the bicep is a cylinder very like the arm HOLE is a circle.. Not a perfect circle but close...
the find the diameter of a circle you take the circumference ( the bicep) add ease to it... thats the 3.30 figure and needs to be increased for very large arms and decreased for very small arms ) and then divide it by PI.. which is the 3.14.
Once you have the correct cap height you must also have the correct side seam!
IF the side seam is TOO LONG it will point the bottom of the cap UP forming a J shape. at the end of the underarm point.
IF its too short it will drag it down on an angle.
The cap and side seam work together to create the overall length of the arm hole and effect the end shape a great deal!
Now.. onto the next graphic which is titled the arm hole..
THE top of the arm hole CURVE above the notch is effected by the across chest measurement. The bust split front to back! which is measured from the side seam to the side seam directly over the BUST APEX determines the below the notch CURVE.
The high bust also helps determine the are just under the FRONT arm hole.
When the front to back bust split is accurate.. the grain line will run down the top of the arm and the underarm will connect at the mid point under the arm!
OK.. the next graphics is the across chest measurement effecting the UPPER portion of the arm hole shape ( the sleeve too!)
First where to measure the across chest. The across chest front is measured down from the shoulder .. at a level that equals the arm hole depth divided by 2. So if the AHD (height) is 5 divide by 2 and measure down from the shoulder ridge (about in the middle ) 2 1/2 inches... that�s the LEVEL that you measure from the arm hole markings across the chest front.
To measure the across chest back.. divide the AHD by 2 and add 1/2 inch.. so measure down 3 inches from the SAME place on the shoulder ridge but going down the back and measure from arm hole mark to arm hole mark!
The arm hole curves when done should be a nice gently CURVE when all connected!
Finally the shoulder angles... or slopes.
When you measure your shoulder slope and bust depth you start at the shoulder point!!!! and measure down.
The bust depth is from the point to the bust apex!
The slope is measured INSIDE the apex from the point to the center front waist line.
IF you have little angels wings just below the shoulder rise on the back the back shoulder line angle may appear straighter than the front... if you have a very round back the same holds true. (It�s suggested you always cut 2 back pieces and gently curve your seam allowance when stitching to accommodate a very round back instead of using the fabric on the fold!)
If you have a fairly straight back and NO wings or nubs.. the front angle and back angled should be the same!
IF you experience a wrinkle in the upper arm of the bodice your slope is probably TOO LONG.
Shaping of the Pants:
The measurement file that is critical to your Dress Shop program takes care of all your horizontal and vertical measurements. As you well know there are critical points which must be measured quite accurately to allow the program to COMPUTE your pattern.
The program points are quite specific and most of them allow no �fudge� factor.
However; you are also aware that 5 women wearing size 42C bras all can be shaped very very differently!
So how do you go about shaping your end pattern???
Lets review a few facts First!
1. No measurement stands alone. The measurements are added and subtracted from each other to form a plot point that the program can then draw a line to or from. If you change one you may be altering many more.. (even some you had no clue had a relationship to that body point!)
2. The PANTS draft from the FLOOR UP TO THE LONGEST FLOOR TO WAIST MEASUREMENT.
3. Some lines have the effect of being �elastic� if you pull or shorten one line it stretches.. if you push or lengthen another line it shrinks or makes a tighter curve.
Lets begin with the following information
The floor to waist measurement is measured at three different points. The front, the side and the back. On MOST women the front is shorter, the side in the middle and the back is the longest.
If you start drawing three lines at different measurements like connect the dots you will wind up with angled lines!
The abdomen line is based on being X inches BELOW the waist.
If you start using an angled line you will have an angled line on this measurement.
The HIP line (floor to wide hip ) is measured at the SAME distance off the floor all the way around the body. It is therefore a STRAIGHT line.
Lets continue with the hip line before attacking the very critical and related crotch line.
The floor to wide hip sets the crotch point line! It also sets the degree of curve at the hip!
Consider this one of those elastic lines. and to view this simply take your hand and form a shadow puppet with the thumb underneath and the four fingers on top. Gently press your thumb into your index finger forming an oval.. look at the space at the base of the thumb where it connects to the palm of your hand next to the index finger.
When the thumb is �closed� (against the index you have a very very tight curve there) when you extend your thumb down and index fingers UP that curves straightens right up and the more you extend it the straighter it becomes!
The THUMB being the point of the floor to wide hip line.. as you move it up.. you are lengthening the line from the floor and making a curvier curve.
If you extend the thumb DOWN you are shortening the floor to wide hip line and being �elastic� are making it straighter!
This isn�t magic.. its an example of HOW the floor to wide hip line functions!
If you have an average shaped tummy and tush the program computes a slightly rounded tummy and tush.. and the floor to lo hip line is exactly where you would expect it to be.
If you have a very round tummy or tush..(check this... stand in front of a mirror.. hold a yardstick straight up and down and look at your tummy, tush .. if you hold the yardstick against the high points it will touch for about an inch or 2 when average.. it will touch for 1/2 an inch or so if very very round and it will touch for several inches if flat!)
Now look at your hip curve..is it a gentle curve extending from waist to crotch point straightening out the lower it goes.. is it straight as a board or does it have a curvacious Jayne Mansfield type shape..
Once you have determined what YOU are.. you can play with the floor to wide hip line to match your shape!
Lengthen = curvier
shorten = straighter
OK.. now you�ve done that and the crotch curve is completely whacked outta shape... yikes!
STAY calm... all measurements interact with other measurements!
Lets talk about the crotch lengths before we explain what to do next:
The crotch split front to back must be accurate! This develops how much ROOM to give the front and the back of the torso
I use a three tape measure to measure the crotch.. one to the left.. one to the right and one hanging straight down.. I tie them together with a tiny silk rose on a wire stem and use the wire through the three holes in the metal end plate of the tapes (better than tape which adds bulk and throws the measurement off a tad!) The left tape measure from the point to the back waist; the right tape measures from the point to the front waist and the middle tape measures the inseam.
I tell everyone to place the ROSE on the ROSE...(oh go ahead and giggle..) your crotch point is dead middle over the vag. opening! Its the only place to place it.. too far forward or too far back will create a bad crotch U.
When properly done the front is generally about 2 ish inches shorter than the back.
I always use a single tape to confirm the total length and do not ever accept adding the front and back to get a total!
Bet on it if they don�t add up to the true single tape measure.. the tape has shifted off the point and is wrong!
This is a very important measure.. it measures the length of your front torso from the crotch point to the waist ( pants draft from floor up.. remember) it also does the back and it places the INSEAM.. if you have done this right your inseam will bisect your leg on the inside from the ankle tp the crotch and will be perfect and on grain.
(Your outside side seam is determined by the split of your waist, abds and Hips.. check them IF it rides to the front or the back and is not dead on straight!)
Oh.. better speak to the abd measurements here.. you may have noticed the abd measurement doesn�t always print true to size.. that�s because its got a lot of uses.. one is to place the end point on your front darts.. but the waist points and hip points determine the CURVE around the abd by making an ARC which mellows out into a hip curve!)
IF you have a very round tummy with the majority of the size in front you may need to use the ABD averaging button.
The program is designed to average the abdomen front and back measurement.. so if your measurement is 44 its thinking.. ah the abd front is 22 and the back is 22..........
YOU happen to measure 26 in front and 18 in back.. so you are NOT getting enough abd room.
CLICK options.. then advanced options...then look for the abdomen averaging button.. click it ONCE so you are over riding the program and it looks at the actual measurement.
.. back to the crotch curve.. the bottom of the U of the crotch curve is a gently shaped U.. see this by placing 25% pattern pieces with inseams facing.. the back of the U stretches out a bit and is longer than the front.. but there are no spikes or dips at the very bottom.
If there are spikes or dips.. it because the INSEAM line is too long or short...
Think another elastic bit here.. if the line is too long you will get a W effect at the base of the crotch points... if too short you will get a V effect...how obvious these spikes and dips are is based on how far off your inseam line is.
When you change the floor to wide hip line you generally have to change the inseam line!
Remember it takes more fabric to cover a curve than a flat surface... Your tush also needs fabric to bend into a sitting position to create the proper �RISE� for comfort.
When you have the inseam line, crotch lengths and floor to wide hip line balanced.. the hip and crotch will be shaped like YOU and assuming your around body measurements at waist, abd and hip are correct the pants will fit!
DO NOT expect the crotch curve to look like Mccalls or Burda.. because its �gonna look like YOU�.. not a commercial pattern! HONEST!!!
If you have additional questions please email me at [email protected]
� 2000 Kaaren Hoback, Dryden, New York ( modified 2001 for version 4.4x) Graphics provided by Mary Ellen Gerard, Maryland
